Falling Stone
by Jenefur
Summary: Theirs ends in a fall


It's spring and they are at a festival held to celebrate the end winter. They are an older couple here, a couple that's been to this event often enough not to be to be impressed by the sparkling lights and the extravagant banners. Surrounding them are a slew of merchants, children, teens, and other city residences filing in the streets to enjoy the festivities.

It happened quickly; so quickly that, if she hadn't been her, she might not have picked it up. But sometimes, only sometimes, Lin sees Tenzin looking at other girls.

They're not leering looks; they're not indicative, adoring, or even mildly suggestive. His glances are simply that: glances. They are light, plain, and all together too brief.

To anyone else, these looks would seem simple. They were looks that you would give to someone you were passing by: quick, polite, and fleeting.

If it were anyone else, they probably wouldn't have noticed. People looked at people. Glancing certainly wasn't a crime.

But this is Lin and she knows Tenzin well enough to know that these are something.

Because no matter how innocent these looks seem, not matter how brief, the fact that they are happening bothers her. And they're occurring far too often.

To anyone else, these looks would seem simple. But Lin sees something in Tenzin's eyes when he glances.

He's contemplative. He's comparing. He's considering.

Lin has known Tenzin for over 30 years. They were together for at least 10 of that. Lin knows that Tenzin doesn't do anything without a plan; everything is coordinated, all the pros and cons weighed out, all end goals clearly kept in mind. And it bothers her, greatly, because at this point, amongst the festivities of Republic City, she can't figure out what his end goal is.

Midway through the fair, Tenzin reaches down and squeezes her hand as his eyes shift away from another girl. And Lin squeezes back because if Tenzin wants to pretend, then she can pretend too.

(Later that day, they take a photograph in front of the bay. For the first time that night, she feels free and light, reveling in the thought that this moment is hers, his, theirs. Lin isn't one to be sentimental. It's not in her nature. But when she gets home that night, she frames the picture and places it at her beside table. She smiles while she does it.)

* * *

Its summer and Tenzin is talking about kids.

He'd been doing it off and on since the pair started dating. At the age of 16, the subject of kids was comical, sweet even. At such a young age, playing house became a part of envisioning a larger picture. But recently, children had become part of Tenzin's daily vocabulary. He would talk about where they would stay, how many they should have, what they would look like. Sometimes he even brought up names.

At 16 it was cute, but they're older now and this little game is starting to worry Lin.

"Why are you pushing this?" Lin asks him one day, planting herself in the spot next to him. They're on a hill on Air Temple Island, facing the bay. Even with the summer breeze blowing gently on their faces, Lin feels hot.

"You know I'm in the police force. Mother's going to retire soon and I'm next in line. Children just wouldn't…they would be the responsible thing to do right now."

"Its just…" Tenzin starts, reaching up to stroke his chin. It was a habit he picked up from his father, something he did when he was nervous or frustrated. Lin's not sure which one he is right now.

"I'm… I am the last one", he says finally, his eyes pointing towards the bay. Lin doesn't need to turn to know that he's looking at his father's statue.

"I'm the last one and I need to preserve that, I need to save it. It can't die with me, Lin, it can't. Not with everything on the line, not with all that I've worked for, not with all that Aang worked for," she notices that he doesn't call Aang "Father" anymore. He'd been doing it a lot less. "I am the only one who can save it and with …with Father gone I…" His face begins to bunch up horribly as though he willing himself not to think about it.

"Hey… hey hey hey, " Lin says reaching for his hand. His smooth palms open up to her callous ones. The contrast was a reminder that she'd always the rougher of the two.

"We have time, Tenzin. You have time. I'm not going anywhere. We're still young. We have time." She moves closer to him and embraces him from behind. Underneath her, she can feel Tenzin's back loosen up and he leads into her.

'We have time, ' she thinks as she gripes his waist tighter. The wind blows gently against her hair as the sun bears down against her back. She still feels so hot.

(Later, when they get dinner in the city, they spot a young couple walking around with their son. The boy is running around wildly as his parents laugh and look on. Lin notices that the woman is pregnant. As they walk pass the family, Lin sees Tenzin's head turn to watch them briefly. When they walk away, Lin hears Tenzin sigh. Its small and its quiet, but she still notices. Heading towards their destination, the city clocks chimes loudly, echoing throughout the streets. And Lin can't help but think about how much time they actually have.)

* * *

It's fall and their fighting everyday. It will start with little things; issues with the councilmen's decisions, police case priority, what to have for dinner that night. But then they explode, blasting into long rants , all filled "what's wrong with you" and "I didn't say that" and "you never listen to me".

Usually it's Lin who leaves first. She's headstrong and she's stubborn so she picks her fights in sections. She'll move in, hit hard, hit fast, and then leave before he can damage her. Lin has enough scars; she doesn't need anymore.

But as of late, its been Tenzin who leaves, picking up mid-strike and walking off. He doesn't respond to her calling out; he doesn't respond to her spout off insults. He just walks away and Lin can't deal with it because this is not the Tenzin that she knows.

But when things heated down, he always came back. Always. Even if he had nothing left to say. And everything around then would go back to normal, or at least as normal as this situation had become.

After a particularly long fight, Tenzin comes back to her and sits. They're both quiet, both wanting to say something, but both not wanting words to escalate into another argument.

After a long silence, Tenzin asks her "What happened to us?"

And she doesn't say anything because, at this point, she doesn't know.

(Lin only followed Tenzin when he stormed off after a fight once. Just once. Just to see what he did. When she finally caught up and found him, she saw him sitting with a young air acolyte girl, ranting about the argument they had just had. And behind his raving and over-exaggerated exclamations, Lin could see the girl gazing up at Tenzin with a look that screamed love. After that day, Lin never follows him again. )

* * *

In the winter, they break it off. Its clean, its simple, and it takes less than 10 minutes. They shake hands when they part.

'It's mutual', she thinks, 'we're different people now. We have different goals, we want different things. I don't need him. I don't need anyone'

But when she reaches her home and feels the quietness around her, something in her aches. It's a dull ache; like a pain that has been ailing her for so long that it's become a part of her very being.

As she enters her bedroom, she reaches up and touches the scarred edges around her face. The creases and grooves of the scars feel like smooth trails across her skin.

She will not cry. She's too old to cry, too prideful to lament, and too young to truly know the difference.

At her bedside table, she sees the framed photo of her and Tenzin. Despite being taken earlier that year, they looked younger then, in a different time, in a different place. They looked happy in the picture.

She approaches the photograph and slams it down on the bedside table before making her way to her closet.

'It's mutual' she thinks as she opens her closet door and slowly gets ready to end her day.

The world had made Lin hard; she was stone now; un-moveable; unyielding; strong. But as Lin prepared to end her night and finally go to sleep, she couldn't help but think how stupid it was of her to feel that air could make its way through the cracks of stone.

* * *

AN: This is associated with my other Linzin fic "Just Like Old Times", though they can be read separately. It is a look into the last year in which these two were dating.


End file.
